Knicks Sleeper Contracts to Pursue in NBA Free Agency
The New York Knicks could be a lot closer to competitive than the NBA's Eastern Conference standings suggest.
Yes, this team did tumble from fourth to 11th this past season, but the defense was respectable, the young players showed improvement and the offense generated a lot of good looks (11th in average shot quality, per Cleaning the Glass).
In other words, the Knicks might need some subtle tweaks (coupled with a lot of player development) to get back on track, not wholesale changes.
As New York turns its attention toward free agency, the following three players loom as sleeper targets who won't cost a fortune.
Danuel House Jr.
The Knicks, like most modern teams, need more wings who can shoot and defend.
Danuel House Jr. sometimes meets the description with ease.
There is some fluctuation with his three-point shooting, but it is generally good (career 36.6 percent) and sometimes great (41.5 across 25 games with the Utah Jazz this season). His defense offers multi-positional versatility. When he looks to attack, he can finish with authority around the rim.
You could argue his archetype alone will drive up his price tag in free agency, but he was playing on 10-day contracts this season (including one with the Knicks) before getting a rest-of-season deal in Utah. For as good as he looked in Utah, it's hard to imagine his market suddenly erupting.
De'Anthony Melton
In case you haven't heard this a million times (you have), the 'Bockers badly need a point guard.
If they aggressively probe for upgrades, they'll seek out a number of players before looking at De'Anthony Melton—including one of his own teammates in Tyus Jones (who's too obvious of a target in New York to wear the sleeper label).
Still, it's possible the Knicks eventually decide Melton offers the best combination of ability and affordability.
His so-so handling and sporadic scoring should put a reasonable cap on his next contract, and that should be the Knicks' signal to pounce. They have the scorers and shot-creators (namely, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett) to live with Melton's weaknesses in hopes of maximizing his strengths as a disruptive defender, microwave shooter and grab-and-go rebounder.
Delon Wright
If teams were putting more stock in Delon Wright's shooting, his earnings potential would be too rich for a list like this.
However, the lack of volume is enough to give front offices some pause about crowning him as a legitimate perimeter threat. Yes, he has splashed at least 37 percent of his threes in each of the past three seasons, but he never attempted even three triples per night over that stretch.
The three-point percentage provides hope that he'll make enough open ones to keep the offense flowing when he's in the game. The lack of volume, however, means he may not always pull defenders to him, so he wouldn't necessarily be an asset in terms of establishing proper spacing.
Still, that's the nitpicky stuff that could keep his next pay rate reasonable, and the Knicks should be glad to add everything else he offers. His perimeter defense is top-notch, his energy level is elite and he can really pressure opposing defenses as a downhill attacker and drive-and-kick distributor.